In certain circumstances during renovation of buildings, labor intensive replacement of light fixtures may be limited due to budgetary constraints, while these buildings may have pre-existing luminaire fixtures or housings, typical renovations provide for removal of the existing lighting and electrical components, as well as removal of fixture housing structures within the building. Removal of the housing requires access above the ceiling level of the building which may be limited due to the type of ceiling installed, and especially if the ceiling is not being replaced.
Complete replacement of lighting fixtures and the components therein is quite costly in a renovation budget. Additionally, this labor intensive activity also results in high costs for removal and placement of the fixtures.
In order to limit the costs for lighting in renovation projects, it would be highly desirable to utilize certain components or elements of existing lighting with retro-fit components in order to improve optical characteristics and reduce energy consumption of the lights as well as provide a new look for the renovation.
It would also be highly desirable to provide such retro-fit of an existing luminaire at a cost which is less than that of a new lighting installation, both with respect to the equipment and the labor costs associated therewith.
When utilizing a pre-existing housing, one issue to overcome is the length between lamp sockets in relation to the length of an opening in the ceiling. Typically, when fluorescent tube lamps are utilized, the length between opposed lamp sockets may be greater than a dimensional opening of a suspended grid ceiling. As a result, it would be highly desirable to overcome this issue in providing a solution for this and the above deficiencies.